Harrison Gray Otis (politician)

Harrison Gray Otis ( born October 8, 1765 in Boston, Massachusetts, † October 28, 1848 ) was an American businessman, lawyer and politician, and one of the main leaders of the Federalists, the first political party of the United States.

Otis was in his lifetime, with an estimated personal wealth in 1846 of $ 800,000 as one of the richest men in Boston. Converted to 2010 corresponds to such property an amount between 23.5 million and $ 5.6 billion, depending on the calculation method. When considering only the inflation results in a present-day value of 26,146,799 U.S. dollars.

Early life

Harrison Gray Otis was the son of Elizabeth (Gray) and Samuel Allyne Otis. His uncle was James Otis, who fought in the Revolutionary War, and his father was active among other things, as a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in early American politics. His aunt was the famous poetess Mercy Otis Warren.

Education and Career

Otis made ​​in 1773 graduated from the Boston Latin School and then studied law at Harvard University, which he left in 1783 as a graduate. 1786, he was admitted to the bar and began practicing in Boston. On May 31, 1790, he married Sally Foster. In 1794 he was elected to the Massachusetts General Court, in 1796, he was appointed Attorney for Massachusetts by the then U.S. President George Washington. In 1797 he was elected for the Federalist party as a representative of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives of the United States, where he remained until 1801. From 1801 to 1802, he was appointed by President John Adams to the United States Attorney, then he worked again at the level of Massachusetts until 1817, where he twice President of the State Senate was ( 1805-1806, 1808-1811 ). In the following years, he was elected as a Senator for Massachusetts (1817-1822) and was mayor of Boston ( 1829-1831 ). He also spent several terms of office in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

In 1814, he was named Judge of the Court of Common Pleas ( until 1818 ) and played an important role as a delegate to the controversial Hartford Convention, was discussed at the whether New England should secede from the United States. At the end of the result led to the decline of the Federalists. Later Otis defended the meeting in his Letters Developing the Character and Views of the Hartford Convention (1820 ) and Letters in Defence of the Hartford Convention (1824 ).

Otis led from 1810 to 1823 the supervision of Harvard University and was a 1823-1825 Fellow thereof. He was also a founder of the Boston bench. During his career, he built three large houses in quick succession ( cf. Harrison Gray Otis House), all of which were designed by Boston architect Charles Bulfinch. Otis died on October 28, 1848 in Boston and is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Political affairs

Otis was involved in a major financial scandal, which was related to the selection of the building site for the Massachusetts State House. Boston State Capitol should remain the state of Massachusetts; the city called Otis in a committee to buy a suitable property and give it to the state. This he converted too, but bought additionally in secret from private living at that time in England John Singleton Copley an adjacent 18.5 acres ( 74,867 m²) plot of land. After a decade of litigation, the sale was declared legally effective, and Otis then developed jointly with the owners of Mount Vernon a large part of today's district of Beacon Hill.

Gallery

Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, portrait by Gilbert Stuart

The grave of Harrison Gray Otis on the Mount Auburn Cemetery